Report: UCLA Football Hiring Washington's Ikaika Malloe as Next Outside Linebackers Coach
The Bruins are set to make their first coaching hire of what could be a busy offseason.
UCLA football is preparing to hire Washington co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Ikaika Malloe as their next outside linebackers coach, The Athletic's Bruce Feldman reported Tuesday afternoon. The Bruins had lost both defensive line coach Johnny Nansen and outside linebackers coach Jason Kaufusi to Arizona earlier in December, with Nansen moving up to defensive coordinator and bringing Kaufusi along with him.
Malloe joined the Huskies' staff in 2016 as the defensive line coach, added the co-defensive coordinator title in 2020 and moved to coach outside linebackers in 2021.
Malloe had been spotted at several UCLA practices over the past few weeks, watching the Bruins and chatting with coaches and team personnel as they prepared for the upcoming Holiday Bowl versus NC State. Defensive analyst and former Arizona Cardinals, Cal and USC defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast had been filling in for both Nansen and Kaufusi and will be doing so through the bowl game.
Pendergast's viability to fill a full-time position on the staff moving forward is still up in the air, but one vacancy has supposedly been filled by Malloe's addition.
Malloe played safety, linebacker and special teams at Washington from 1993 to 1996, leading the Huskies with six interceptions as a senior. Before playing his college ball up in Seattle, Malloe grew up and went to high school in Hawaii.
His coaching career began at Washington as a graduate assistant and program coordinator for four years, then he made the move to Western Illinois to be the special teams coordinator and defensive line coach from 2001 to 2003. Malloe spent the next 12 seasons hopping from UTEP to Hawaii to Yale to Portland State to Utah State, coaching defensive linemen, defensive tackles and special teamers along the way.
In Malloe's first year back on the staff at Washington in 2016, the Huskies went to the College Football Playoff. Partially under Malloe's watch, that defense finished No. 1 in the country with 33 takeaways and topped the Pac-12 in yards allowed, points allowed, third down conversion rate allowed and first downs allowed while also finishing second in red zone defense and sacks.
Malloe coached Vita Vea, a future first round pick and Super Bowl champion, to the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2017. Over the next three seasons, Washington routinely boasted one of the top defenses and pass rushes in the conference under Malloe's guidance.
Outside of what his units have accomplished on the field, Malloe has also built up a reputation as a top recruiter.
Nansen and Kaufusi were seen as UCLA's top recruiters on the defensive side of the ball the past few years, and looking beyond their Xs and Os, their Samoan and Tongan roots helped draw in big time players in the front seven. When it came out that Kaufusi was leaving, defensive linemen Tyler Manoa even pointed out that the staff was losing its Polynesian ties in a since-deleted Tweet.
Malloe, being from Hawaii, immediately brings back that vital connection that was set to depart. Edge rusher Sav'ell Smalls was a five-star prospect and the No. 1 recruit in the west when he committed to Washington in 2020, and the top-two players in the Huskies' top-25 2019 class were defensive tackles Faatui Tuitele and Jacob Bandes.
In adding Malloe, UCLA will fill one hole on its staff, but it still has to find a replacement for Nansen if Pendergast isn't seen as the long term solution. Defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro's contract is also up this offseason, so he either needs to be extended or replaced in the coming months.
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